Senate Patent Troll Bill Gets Delayed in Committee

Sen. Leahy hoped to hammer out compromise next week

The Senate's version of a bill to curb patent troll abuses suffered a slight setback Thursday when Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the judiciary committee, was forced to push back consideration of his bill to next week, April 3.

But a number of members on the Senate judiciary committee, including Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) pushed for more changes to Leahy's bill, effectively derailing Leahy's goal to move his bill out of committee as planned.

"I don't think we should pass a bill if it doesn't change the system," said Schumer. "But at the same time, we have to have minority support. We have to get a bill done."

Despite the differences among the committee members, all the members said they were committed to passing legislation and expressed a desire to try and hammer out a final bill next week. At least, that's the goal.

"We're not at the finish line yet, but we're close," Cornyn said.

"We know we have to strike a balance. We're not going to have 10 different bills, we're going to have one," Leahy said.